This the second of three entries about great music I've heard this year! In retrospect I probably should have started earlier and made more posts, but here we are. Today I talk about three albums from three of my favourite countries: Canada, Finland and Japan!
Some people might remember the name Kazzer from earlier in the decade. He is a Canadian hip hop artist who started off his music career with a really spunky album, Go For Broke. It was one of the earliest exposures to hip hop I had and it's stuck with me after all these years. A number of years later when he released his second CD, Broke, it was easy to see times had changed. There was still the same man, and the same hip hop/rock elements present, but the tone had darkened considerably. The songs were all a lot darker. After yet another quiet period, Kazzer has reemerged as Redlight King.
The title of the CD speaks volumes: Something for the Pain. The upbeat days of “Growin up in the 80s” and “Puddem Up” are but a memory now. The tone is decidedly dark. In fact, it only seems to spiral downwards as you go through the album. The last track, When the Dust Settles Down, is one of those honest moments that so rarely appears in popular music. It's a summary of some of the hardest times he's been through, without any fluff or exaggeration. It's a bleak way to end the CD, but it makes sense. I think it maintains his integrity; if they had finished with more bombast it would have changed the sound altogether.
Redlight King is for all intents and purposes a rock group, but Kazzer's distinctive vocals still steer the ship, sometimes dipping into a rhythm and tone more akin to his rapping on previous albums. And the rough edge his voice has tells as much of a story as his lyrics.
One thing I really love about this album is the story of how they came to use a sample of Neil Young on the track Old Man. This is the first time Neil Young has allowed anyone to sample his music. The band had a bit of a struggle to go through, but in the end once he'd heard it, he had no problem with them making it into a song. It's a testament to Kazzer's perseverance as a musician. He's been through so much so far, it only makes sense that he wouldn't give up on something he was committed to.
Check out the music video for Old Man
and an acoustic version of Comeback
redlightkingmusic.com // @theredlightking
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Norther gave itself a fresh start with Circle Regenerated. No band could continue on in the same direction after parting ways with a founding member, guitarist, vocalist, composer and frontman—and those roles were all performed by Petri Lindroos The band was already starting to reinvent itself when the original drummer was replaced by Heikki Saari. He brought a freshness to the music and a drastically different style of drumming with him. Now with a new vocalist and guitarist on board, I think Norther has really found its place and there is a lot of room for growth.
Even with three new members, Norther still has the familiar sound they’ve had since 2003’s Mirror of Madness, which I'm not complaining about. You can expect to hear breakdowns, contrasting clean and harsh vocals, ambient strings and plenty of solos. However, neither Circle Regenerated nor their last album N have explored alternate time signatures much. Norther’s second, third and fourth albums all masterfully tackled 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 10/4 and 12/4. There are a few time signature shifts here, as in Some Day, which has an alternating 3/4 and 4/4 scheme. I don’t think complex time signatures in and of themselves make music better, but it can enrich a piece when done properly, and since I know Norther is more than capable of producing quality songs in something other than common time, I would hope they will do more when the songwriters feel it is appropriate.
The biggest adjustment is Aleksi’s vocals. He has not only taken over Petri’s position for harsh vocals, but has also mostly replaced Kride’s back up clean singing. I still think Petri is one of the best at what he does, but Aleksi does a good job of injecting his style into the music. After a couple of listens, you realize he fits right in; in fact, comparing the two singers is a moot point, as they both have completely different approaches. Aleksi is less melodic with his “screaming” but has a greater variety of timbres. His technique and range are showcased nicely, as in The Hate I Bear, where his singing is layered on top of his harsh vocals.
As always, Norther displays its softer side with songs like Falling, which is kind of like a power ballad, only more hardcore. The band makes good use of acoustic guitars, soft keyboard pads, strings and choirs to express some really powerful emotions. Make no mistake: Norther is not a band of adolescents who haven’t coped with their feelings yet. They are in touch with some very powerful emotions, and just because they’re loud does not mean they’re angst-ridden or just angry. My favourite track, Some Day, talks about dreaming of the day when you’re free, when you’re released from whatever pain that binds you. Another track, We Do Not Care, is about solidarity, and not being dragged into the madness around you. This isn’t anger or hatred; this is genuine human emotion at work. There is so much waiting for the listener to experience.
The digipak version contains three bonus songs, including a beautiful keyboard/synth instrumental, an acoustic song from guitarist/vocalist Kride, and a cover song of Swedish rock band Lambretta. The two original bonus tracks are quite respectable in their own rights. One thing I'd like to see Norther explore in the future is a song spanning ten or more minutes. Long songs aren't automatically good, but it presents new challenges for the songwriters and opens up the possibility for new sounds and forms.
I'm really pleased with the release and hope that Norther gains some more international attention.
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This last CD was one of the biggest surprises for me this year. The latest Legend of Zelda game came with a bonus CD, which is a collection of music from its 25 year history arranged for orchestra. The first time I heard an orchestral arrangement of a video game track was about ten years ago and I was pleased as punch, but the novelty soon wore off. A lot of games from the 8- and 16-bit era had music that was not really suitable for arranging. That doesn't make it bad; it just doesn't work when you try to play the Mario theme with a 50-piece orchestra. It wasn't conceptualised that way. It's the same when some rock bands try to add orchestral instruments to the music. Too often it sounds forced because the rock music was written and then the strings or percussion or whatever was added afterwards.
Even some games with music that begs to be orchestrated (Final Fantasy, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, etc.) have received poor arranging. But this is by far the best orchestration of video game music I've ever heard. One of my biggest problems with game medleys is that they frequently sound like this: theme/theme/theme/theme; or alternatively: theme/awkward transition/theme/exaggerated rit./theme. But the Wind Waker Symphonic Movement on the CD actually sounds like a movement from a symphony. It might have a few more themes than your typical symphony, and it's not exactly in sonata allegro form, but it works. The arranger cleverly used a transitioning theme to get between melodies. The main feature of Wind Waker was travelling by boat around the world. This is seamlessly incorporated into the movement, and works doubly well because of the double meaning: musical transition and in-game transition.
For a while, Zelda games have been experimenting more with overlaying music and transitioning unnoticed from one piece of music to another. For instance, you might be walking through the forest in the game, and as you approach an enemy (or one approaches you without you noticing), the music will slowly shift as a warning. If you walk away from the enemy, the music will return to normal. This eliminates the necessity for a “transition piece,” which might be awkward in a game where you don't change perspective for an enemy encounter (as you would in most Final Fantasy games, for instance). This sounds like the idea they were going for in the orchestral arrangements. I was very happy with this CD, particularly since it was so unexpected; I mostly ordered the limited edition version of Skyward Sword for the gold Wiimote.
The Wind Waker Symphonic Movement
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